


Trust

by wanderingsmith



Series: Reactions [1]
Category: The Expendables (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-16
Updated: 2015-03-10
Packaged: 2018-03-13 07:54:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3373697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wanderingsmith/pseuds/wanderingsmith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"NO!!  Don't give him morphine!"<br/>"..Too late.  Why-"<br/>"SHIT!  TOLL!"  Barney didn't wait for the reply, already on his feet and running for the plane, ducking to try to avoid the handgun fire coming toward him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I ain't got no money, and nobody'd be daft enough to pay me for this. As it is thought, so let it be said; you make the toys, I play with 'em.
> 
> shameless excuse for comforting!barney.
> 
> *** This is NOT in the same Universe as 'Love you, man' ***

"Smilee! Report!" Barney slid behind a rock a few rough hundred feet from their transport, ducking as bullets send stone fragments at his face.

"Made the plane with Doc and Christmas. Area still clear. Christmas hit. Doc says he'll be fine, just going to patch him-"

Returning fire at the troop of local militia that had managed to chase them all the way here, Barney heard faint shouting on the radio, "No fucking morphine, dammit I can't-" "Quit being stupid, we already know you got balls! Mars! Hold the idiot!" And then Smilee's voice sounded, as though he was facing away, before Barney could speak up, "Christ, what the hell-"

Shit! "NO!! Don't give him morphine!"

"..What?"

"Stop Doc!" FUCK! Shoulda kept Lee with him-

"..Too late. Why-"

"SHIT! TOLL!" Barney didn't wait for the reply, already on his feet and running for the plane, ducking to try to avoid the handgun fire coming toward him.

Toll clicked in calmly on the radio, "Heard. Got you covered."

"Shit! What the HELL!" Smilee's cut was anything *but* calm, not that Barney expected any different.

"SMILEE! Put your radio to max- as close to him- as you can!" Barney was already panting from running full out over the damn terrain, but he could hear the shouting behind Smilee and couldn't let himself slow.

"This is as-"

As soon as he heard the wild shout get near the radio, Barney didn't wait, shouting back as best he could, "LEE! Listen to me! They don't- mean you- harm! You hear- my voice- Lee??"

"Barn?? Where- Get away! Fuck off, you fucking bastard!"

"LEE!! Settle! DOC! Don't try- to do an'thin'- 'til I get there! Just keep- him from- hurting himself! Lee! Talk to me!"

"Let me go! Asshole bastards, let me- Barney!"

Barney didn't stop when he flew in the borrowed hydroplane's side door, just located Lee and dived for him, the kids clustered around trying to hold the viciously struggling kickboxer on his back jerking out of his way just in time. "Goddammit Lee! Settle I said!" Ignoring the scream of pain from his abused body, he got his hands around Lee's rock-hard tensed jaw and forced his wild and dilated eyes on Barney's, ignoring the fingers flying up sharp and hard to try to shove him away now that Doc had let go and got himself out of range, "It's ME! Come on- settle down. I'm not going to let- anyone hurt you!"

"Barney?"

"Yes!" He leaned forward, half laying on his side besides Lee, letting his forehead fall against his while trying to catch his breath; glad to hear recognition in the man's high and still freaked-out voice, "It's OK. Doc isn't going to hurt you. You need to let him patch your leg. You're bleeding like hell all over the damn rent-a-plane."

"Barney."

With a last deep breath, Barney raised his head, giving the confused man a firm look while he pitched his voice, "Doc. Do what you have to. Make it quick. Lee. You trust me."

"I- ..Barney? What..."

Barney growled under his breath, tired but feeling the clock ticking at the back of his mind, "Doc didn't know; he gave you morphine. Thorn?"

"Yeah?"

"Did I hear you can fly?"

"Yes. Private license only."

"Can you start this thing?"

"Yes."

He kept his eyes locked on Lee as he kept talking, knowing the man didn't really care what he said, in this state, just needed the familiar voice to stay calm, "Go. Doc. He's.. got some sort of allergy to morphine. Goes nuts on everybody so don't take it personally."

"How do you patch him up?"

Lee frowned, obviously registering Doc's voice too close, and Barney hushed him, "Shh. Lee. Trust me?"

Lee's hands tried to pull himself closer to Barney and Barney shifted so he wouldn't need to move, laying tight to his side now, as Doc worked his far leg and Barney distantly heard the rest of the team coming in, registering Toll coming to sit on Lee's other side to help if he went nuts again. "You gotta let Doc patch you, Lee. I gotta fly out of here. I'm only going to the cockpit; I'll keep talking. But you need to stay calm. Yeah?" he tried to stare his honesty at the man, but those unfocused eyes didn't give him a good feeling.

When the engines rumbled to life, Lee still hadn't answered and Barney could hear weapons fire getting too close. "Doc. Is he good enough to make it?"

"..Yeah. If he doesn't move."

One last try. "Lee?"

The too-quick breath and desperate stare said this wasn't going to be one of the better times. "Shit! Toll. Help me get him to his seat."

"What??"

Barney shook his head at Doc's exclamation, "He'll freak as soon as I move. I'd rather you not have to punch him unconscious." Moving slow but steady, Barney sat up and pulled Lee with him, "If I'm not around, it's either a piece of wood to bite on, or a punch to the head. He's fine with anaesthetic, and even other painkillers, but morphine..." he shook his head, pulling Lee's arm around his neck to carry his silently drugged self to the cockpit.


	2. Chapter 2

With Toll's careful help, he got Lee strapped into his seat a minute before Gunner threw himself in the plane as Mars and Caesar covered him as best they could from the edges of the door. 

Barney hurriedly got them away from shore and eventually airborne without further mishaps. Settling more comfortably into his seat for the flight, he finally had a chance to check on his drugged copilot, not surprised, from past experience, to find his eyes now dazed vague and stuck on Barney. "Lee? With me?"

It took a few blinks for words to form, and as he waited, Barney checked the bandage on Lee's leg, making sure it wasn't bleeding through. 

"With.. you. Going home?"

Barney smiled, always feeling weirdly gentle when Lee got like this, reaching over to grip Lee's shoulder quick, "Going home, Lee."

He could hear the quiet tone of conversation in the hold and trusted that it meant everyone else was fine. A few minutes of quiet flying later, he heard Doc's steps coming up and reached over to grip Lee's hand, "Lee? Remember you trust me. Doc only wants to help."

Lee didn't get around to reacting before Doc came up between their seats and Barney kept his handhold, hoping the spell would hold. He was damn glad the old Expendable stayed back rather than get in Lee's personal space the way he too often did.

"Sorry Barney. He tried to tell us-"

"Don' worry 'bout it, Doc. Lee'll understand when he sobers up. I knew you made yourself a kit; shoulda remembered to warn ya. Just been a long time since we had to risk the reaction. Forgot."

"You seriously punch him out?"

Barney grimaced, hand tightening reflexively, "I keep hydromorphone in my kit for when it's really bad and I can't have him out, but it messes with his head too. Not violent but.. he says he'd rather the headache from a punch. And Toll and Gunner get sick with the synthetic shit so we didn't just change everyone over."

"Shit."

"Shoulda told ya."

"Yeah. Gunner says the first time it happened he could barely hold him."

"Yeah. Phil was about to punch him before he made the cut on his arm worse. You saw how he gets, doesn't seem to recognize anyone or hear anything people say, let along understand."

"Except you."

Barney ignored the wheedling tone, used to everyone making a fuss about it, "When I got to their position and started yelling what the fuck, he actually focused on me." Barney stopped, surprised to feel Lee squeeze his hand back, even though he didn't said anything. Looking over, his expression hadn't changed, so Barney left it at that; as long as he stayed calm, they were good.

"He ever make a guess why?"

"No. Says he never could take the stuff." He'd also said, quietly to Barney one night on the hangover side of an episode, that no one had ever been able to make his head calm the fuck down during the episodes before. 

Barney had taken that as an encouraging sign that the still too quiet brit must trust him at least a little. Considering that he knew hardly anything of the man even after 4 months, Barney had been glad for the reassurance.

"If *you* carry the kit safe for him, why the hell wasn't he with you?"

Barney winced, starting to hunch as his own guilt tried to kick in. But then he felt Lee jerk and was hitting autopilot and turning, everything forgotten except getting to his friend to keep him in his seat before he messed up his stitches. Lee'd only managed to wrench himself sideways through the belt around his chest, face twisted with fury and arms flailing for Doc, who pulled back, looking guilty. Barney wrapped his arms awkwardly around Lee and the seat, back stiff to keep his weight off his injured lap, mouth at Lee's ear, "Lee! No! Don't move, damn it!" he turned his face enough to get an eye glaring at Doc and snarl at him, "Doc get the hell out!" 

Lee's hands were gripping rhythmically at his back, pissed off growl in his throat; not fighting him, thank god, but stiff and back in the violent end of the reaction, and Barney growled himself, knowing things weren't *that* bad, but.. still worrying. "Come on Lee. Ease up. It's just you and me. Won't let anyone else near if you really can't take it." Safe bet no one else was going to come up here unless they had to, anyway.

"Barney." One of the hands came up to his head and Barney winced, waiting for the jerk to his hair. Unprepared to be pulled tighter to Lee's neck instead. Lee's head drooped sideways to lean on his, "Home."

And Barney relaxed at the whimpery sigh. He could feel the plane was steady and allowed himself to stay where he was, shifting a knee besides Lee's good leg to give his back a break, hoping the airspace stayed clear. "Yeah. Going home. You're alright, Lee. Another couple hours and you'll be out of the fog. Just trust me."

"Trust you."

Barney couldn't tell if it was just a repetition of his voice or a statement, but really, either amounted to the same thing. And Lee's body was relaxed now, hands holding onto Barney's hip and head but otherwise loose and calm. 

"Better?" A grunt was all he got as an answer, "Okay to let me get back to flying?"

The grumpy mutter and tightening hands made him huff a laugh, "You want to get home, you gotta let me fly, Lee."

When the hands let him go, Barney slowly straightened, wincing at the stupid position's results before catching sight of Lee's sad pout and smiling. A clumsy shuffle over to drop into his seat and hurriedly reassure himself the flight was still clear and then he checked that Lee's bandages were also still clear after the excitement. And *then* he could relax.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no promise of more.. was just a brief scene hat appeared.. but was sitting there glaring at me..


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> there was a request for more....

Once he was taxiing to the rental's hangar, Barney glanced at the still-dazed eyes of his his copilot and tapped his mic, "Caesar, can you get everyone offloaded and clear us a path to one of the trucks?" He could already see a group of grounds people hanging around, no doubt ready to swarm the returning plane.

"Sure."

Rolling his eyes at the too-casual word, Barney added, to remind the man of the situation, "And you guys figure out who's going to be driving."

"Shit. Right." The slightly more animated response proved the man'd been reminded that their usual driver was out of commission, and Barney sure as fuck wasn't keeping Lee sitting up next to him just because he'd rather be in control!

He took his time shutting the plane down to give the gang time to clear out, and then got up and stepped to Lee's side.

"Hey."

"Barney?"

"Yeah. Changing transportation, my friend." He leaned down to get the belts undone, "Guys cleared us a path to the truck. We just gotta get you outa this cockpit without ripping your stitches, alright?" By then he had Lee free of restrictions and had his hands on the seat's armrests, "Gonna get you up, ok? No putting weight on your left leg." A couple blinks was about as good an answer as he was gonna get so he carefully got his hands fisted in Lee's belt and looked up, "Put your arms around my neck."

The movement was jerky, but Lee understood him and ended up with his head on Barney's shoulder, arms as tight as he could ask. "Ok, here we go. You keep those arms tight, keep the rest loose and don't step on that damn leg. Just let me move you. Here we go, up."

He got Lee up clean enough, then slowly shifted them around in the awkward cockpit, trying to keep Lee's weight all on Barney's hands. And then they were free of the low roof and into the hold and he could straighten and wrap an arm around Lee's waist. "Ok, let go the neck, that's it, just lemme take the one arm, just like this, good. This'd be damn sight easier if I could carry ya, Christmas." Except that when he sobered up he'd scream bloody murder. And might just quit on Barney. And that just- "So we're going to hop it. You let me lift your weight and you don't fucking put that damn leg down. Got it?" 

With Barney as his missing leg, and taking the weight from even his good leg, Lee didn't seem to feel the walk. And the guys kept the ground crew and themselves at least a couple feet away and there was no freaking out.

It was an awkward enough shuffle that *Barney* felt the damn walk and was fucking glad to get them to the back of the military transport truck. Laying Lee down on his back as far back in the cargo space at the very back of the hold, and laying himself down between him and the seats, Barney sighed in relief at the uneventful move before radioing the others to load up. 

"See? All good. Better than sitting in that plane seat, right?"

Before Lee could answer, Doc stepped up to look down at Barney and wordlessly gave him a blanket before turning to the seats as the truck started to roll.

Glad the seats were a couple feet away from the two of them, Barney gripped Lee's stiff shoulder, "Relax, he's gone. Brought you a present though. This is gonna get chilly quick. Let's get you covered."

\--

Barney was keeping his head busy going through the op to be sure he didn't have to add anything to the bills when he felt Lee shiver, and his focus snapped back in to the present. Opening his eyes and carefully turning on his side and tucking himself closer to the wounded man's side to keep him warmer, he squeezed the hand he held, waiting for him to wade his way through the webs in his head.

"Wha..."

Barney found another fraction of an inch to get rid of between them at the miserable, pained mumble, "Doc gave you morphine."

"..Shit. Sorry."

He grunted at the apologetic tone, "Shut up. Not your fault."

"I hurt anyone?" The remnant of a growl in the voice at the mention of others would have told Barney, even if he didn't remember, that clearer thought didn't equal Lee's equanimity having returned, yet.

"Didn't look like it. All the kids together could just about hold you down." His hand twitched as he felt Lee start to shake, "Cold?"

"Yeah."

Unfortunately, the truck was stripped to metal frame and their blanket barely utilitarian. Barney grimaced, disliking having to move him when his whole body was probably hurting with withdrawal, but- He sat up carefully, working by feel in the dim light, then took his coat off before sliding an arm under Lee's back, "Sit; slow and easy. Careful with the leg."

"Ow, fuck!" 

Ignoring the sound of the other occupants of the truck shifting nearby from that snarl, Barney took the blanket off his patient and instead got his coat on Lee's shivering shoulders as quick as he could, then wrapped his arms around Lee's chest and hips, "Ok, slow and easy, let me turn you on.. That's it, bad leg on me and- sorry! Come on, almost there, just hang on, there we go. Hold on and just let me-" Laying on his back and trying to keep his chest a steady surface to lay on, he reached for the blanket besides them and did his best to throw it to cover Lee's body as it lay three quarters over Barney, "Ok. Best I can do. Try to relax." 

It took a few minutes, Barney's eyes back to closed and his hands half keeping Lee in place, half trying to rub warmth into him, but, eventually, the shivers toned down enough that Lee's head finally fully rested on Barney's pec.

"Warmer?"

"Yeah."

They both grunted when the truck hit a bump and thumped the hard floor into Barney's back, and thumped Barney's leg against Lee's. "Fuck. Gonna be another few hours before we get to the safehouse. Think you can sleep?" It was a faint hope, but sometimes-

"..No. Head killing me." 

Barney silently brought his hands up to the top of Lee's head and pressed slow, steady circles into familiar hollows on the crown. Wasn't often reaction hit Lee hard enough that he let Barney do this without getting defencive but, maybe because he hadn't had any morphine in years, it seemed to have hit harder. Or maybe the almost 50-year-old was taking the hit worse.

"You don't have to."

-Nope: there it was. Barney rolled his eyes. "How many years have I been telling you to shut the fuck up about it? We take care of each other. Like Luna says: we're family."

"Rest of the family doesn't force *you* to be the caretaker."

Barney shook his head, "Rest of the family wouldn't be able to make me accept my limitations and let them cover for me. Just shut up and focus on my fingers until the rest of the ache lets you sleep, Lee. You know damn well I'm not going to let you talk me out of this." 

Once, and only once, he'd let Lee convince him to leave him once he could think relatively straight. Half the, at the time, twelve-man team had been injured, and though Cain had been piloting the boat to safety, still Barney felt guilty not checking on everyone. He'd been halfway through going around talking to every man and woman when Xav, whom he'd asked to keep half an eye on Christmas, had shouted his name and he'd found his friend curled into a corner, cringing from Xav who was vacillating between trying to get to him and not wanting to touch him after his earlier reaction. 

Soaked in sweat and stuck in a fucking panic attack and *hell* if Barney was going to step away for anything short of life or death reasons!

"Stubborn bastard."

Barney snorted, "That'd be why we get along."

If the road wasn't so rough, even aside from the noticeable bumps, it wouldn't be so bad to lay there. Lee resting as well as could be expected, warm enough as a living blanket that the chill of the steel floor through Barney's shirt was bearable. Good to be allowed to give comforting touch. It was one thing to be used to being alone, but touching Lee like this reminded him of the emptiness that he usually buried under work.

"I really ask you to take me home?"

The quiet mutter was followed with feeling Lee's shoulders loosen from their pain-tensed stiffness and Barney made sure not to react; keep his fingers moving, keep his body still. Didn't look like Lee was going to let himself sleep, but at least if he relaxed it meant he wasn't in so much pain. 

Made his voice quiet and soothing, "Yeah, you did." And maybe some of the stupidly gentle care that drugged-Lee drew out of him snuck into the tone, but it'd hardly be the first time he slipped. 

"Do trust you."

Barney's breath caught at that, and his fingers stilled. Not so long ago, he'd have taken that for granted. But they hadn't quite recovered from the whole Stonebanks mess, yet; for all that they both tried to pretend, Barney knew there was a distance between them that had never been there, before.

Eyes wide and staring into the dark nothing of the truck ceiling, he swallowed thickly and made his fingers start moving again, even though it felt like they were swollen clumsy. It took a few unsteady breaths before he could find words, and a few more before he trusted his voice, "That's good to know." Shoulda waited longer; he could hear a shiver in that.

And Lee's hands slipping to rest on the sides of his neck said he heard it too. "Still working at forgiving you. But I *do* trust you."

"..'ll take what I can."

\--

"Boss?"

Lee had been quiet for probably a good hour when Smilee's voice sounded in his ear and Barney blinked a few times to get his mind out of the doze it'd apparently slipped into. Then he took a hand from its lazy massage at Lee's skull to trigger his mic, hushing the man when he grumbled sleepily at the disruption, "Shh. Just Smilee calling." He taped the mic, and muttered quietly, "Smilee?"

"Ceasar said to let you know when we were 10 minutes from the safehouse."

"Already? Made good time. Thanks for the heads up."

"Time to get up?"

The question was only normal Lee-grumpy, for all that the man hadn't moved. "10 minutes, yeah. How you feeling?"

"Alright. Body just aching a bit," which Barney knew meant his muscles were probably all but spasming, "Leg stings like a bitch. Doc say how bad the damage was?"

"Err," Barney's fingers stilled in dismay, "Shit I.. I didn't ask. Just asked if it was safe to move you..."

Lee's chest shook over his as the obviously much recovered man chuckled, "Well shit, Barney. Talk about failing." The words dug at Barney, even with the unfaked amusement in them, but before the guilt could really claw in, he felt Lee's fingers, warm on his throat all this time, slip up and tap at his cheek, mostly gently, voice a low grumble, almost lost in the truck's noise, "Cut it out. Nothing you could do different regardless of his answer. You'd have asked as soon as we settled down, and we both know it."

When the touch stopped distracting him, Barney couldn't really remember what they'd been talking about. It seemed simpler, even wiser, to just let it be for what was left of the trip.


End file.
